The news is even better for SVT devotees: Ford's in-house tuner is said to be pushing the 4.6L four-valve V-8 past the 350-hp level, aiming at the 350-hp (or more) Chevrolet Corvette. Ford has made it clear that the new Mustang will serve as the foundation for a wide array of sport coupes and convertibles, competing with everything from the Chrysler Sebring to the Corvette.However, there's no program to replace the SVT Cobra R when the new Mustang debuts, so it appears Ford won't quite take the Mustang up to stratospheric levels of performance to compete with the Z06 and Viper. On the other hand, SVT is said to be experimenting with higher levels of performance. Such engines include a 5.0L V-8, a version of the SVT F-150 Lightning's 5.4L V-8, and the most likely engine option, a supercharged version of the 4.6L four-valve V-8. Any one of these should push the Mustang past 400 hp, with a roughly equal torque number. The supercharged engine may debut in a special-edition version of the current Mustang as early as '02 or '03.

Purportedly, the Cobra will get one high-performance component so far found only on the most exotic of imported high-performance machinery: a version of the Formula One-style sequential steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifter developed for the Aston Martin Vanquish. Manual gearboxes for the Cobra and GT, whether F1-style or conventional, will have six gears. The Aston sequential gearshift is said to be better developed than other such designs, including Ferrari's.In place of a Cobra R model, Ford is working on a series of special-edition Mustangs, which began with the '01 Bullitt. Next up is the '02 Mach 1 (see spy shot in this story), followed by the Boss 302 scheduled for '03. The Mach 1 could get a version of the supercharged 4.6L V-8, while the 302 would get-natch-a 5.0L V-8. Besides being collector editions, the Mach 1 and Boss 302 serve as rolling test mules for potential high-performance versions of the S197.

But special editions won't end with the current Mustang. The Bullitt is just the first in a long line of special-edition Mustangs that'll allow J Mays and his designers, as well as Ford engineers, to play with the car every year. Expect the S197 to get both limited edition high-performance V-8 specials and mass-customization versions of the V-6, featuring high-powered stereos and tie-ins with other popular labels.Although the Mustang could cruise through the next few years with little effort, the car won't take advantage of the lack of direct competition and rest on its laurels. Spreading the line through the performance spectrum means that designers and engineers have their work cut out for them: To succeed, the S197 Mustang must be an aspirational car to many people. One looming question is whether Ford, which has had problems lately getting new cars and trucks to market as scheduled, can pull off a 2003 calendar-year debut with the S197. If not, there's always April 2004, the 40th anniversary of the original American ponycar.Camaro Trivia1. The first Camaro debuted on Sept. 29, 1966.2. The Camaro was originally going to be called the Panther. Chevrolet even had the molds made for the emblems, but just before the car's debut they changed their minds.3. The Z28 name was chosen because it just happened to be the next available option after the Z27.4. The '69 body style continued in production for two full years. The '70s body style made its debut in mid-1970 instead of in the fall of 1969 due to a lengthy UAW strike.5. Chevrolet designers originally had four body styles-coupe, convertible, fastback, and station wagon-planned for production instead of just two.